This invention relates to vehicles and, more specifically, to counterweight structures for vehicles which may be employed for the purpose of towing other vehicles.
Prior art of possible relevance includes the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,367,441 issued Feb. 6, 1968 to Schuster et al; and 3,787,086 issued Jan. 22, 1974 to Cosby.
Many vehicles in use today employ counterweights for any of a variety of purposes. For example, vehicles such as cranes, lift trucks, backhoes, or the like, frequently employ counterweights at locations remote from their booms or masts to balance loads carried thereby. Frequently, too, tractors or the like may employ counterweights in proximity to their driven wheels, normally the rear wheels, for increasing traction.
Of course, tractors are generally intended for towing other vehicles or implements, while frequently lifting vehicles such as lift trucks are also employed for towing purposes.
Heretofore, it has been necessary to provide relatively elaborate structures where counterweights are secured to the rear of a vehicle if it also to be used for towing. Typically, passages or hooks or the like are cast into the counterweights whereby the draw bar of an implement or vehicle to be towed may be secured to an eye formed in the counterweight or passed through a portion of the counterweight to a hitch for the draw bar.